It felt good. Sign in hand. Beautiful day. A long line of peace activists stretching down 82nd Street. A variety of fingers flashed from the windows of passing cars; emphatic birds, upraised thumbs, peace signs, a noncommittal hand fluttering. I gauged motorist responses as about evenly split between those who supported our peace action and those who, I guess, support war. Many of those who disagreed with the peace activists shouted “Bush! Bush!”. It was a disturbing glimpse into a Cult of Personality where the question wasn’t one of war and peace, but rather a glassy-eyed devotion to My Leader. One man screeched his car over, hopped out hopping mad and ranted up and down the line of protestors ala Serpico, demanding to speak to a veteran. I implored him to come on the grass, as cars hit brakes and parted around him like water around a boulder. A boulder would’ve been the smarter of the two. He survived and left as he arrived, tires screeching.
This was in Lubbock last weekend. Peace actions like this one have drawn good crowds. A series of teach-ins at Texas Tech has attracted hundreds. Sometimes I think peace activists have it easier there, with the captive audience of a large student body, most of whom are of draft age. However, that should not, and does not, deter the peace movement in Amarillo. The Question War Film Series will hold its fourth screening this Sunday, April 10, 2 pm at the downtown Library. Attendance of 25-30 has been steady and discussions lively. Yanar Mohammed, internationally recognized women’s rights advocate from Iraq will talk about the impacts of war and fundamentalism on the status and safety of women amid the chaos of war, on April 9 and 10. If you’d like more information, email me (questionwar@bluevisionpoems.com).
Our job on the home front is to make every opportunity to discredit this war. Network and act. Get noisy. Silence is complicity. It’s as simple as that.
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